Archive for the ‘Apartheid’ Category

Rob Shehadie and Tahir Bilgic should be laughing. They have thriving careers on the stand-up comedy circuit, make a very healthy living doing corporate gigs and MC-ing work, and are co-creators of a hit television show, Here Come the Habibs, in which they also have on-screen roles.

But something grates. Specifically, it’s the way their comedy is still thought of as a sub-category, “ethnic comedy”, rather than part of the mainstream.

“We go around the country performing, we know what Australians are laughing at,” says Shehadie, who plays Jahesh, best mate of serial “wogpreneur” Toufic Habib (Sam Alhaje) in Nine’s sitcom.

“That’s what we tell the networks,” says Bilgic, who appears as the taxi-driving Mustafa. “Every capital city, a lot of country towns, doing shows, talking to the punters we know.”

When they play in the bush, they change their material to suit the crowd. Weddings, they tweak it. Twenty-firsts well, those they don’t do any more because every idiot with a belly full of beer thinks he’s funnier than the talent, and frankly who needs the grief?

But not much fazes them.

“We’ve done the mines,” says Shehadie. “A 7am show for the night-shift guys.”

Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.

“They aren’t after knock-knock jokes, I can tell you,” notes Bilgic.

“It was 48 degrees that day,” Shehadie remembers. “We were outdoors, flies everywhere. They enjoyed it, but it was a challenge.”

We’re lunching at Abla’s, that stalwart of Lebanese dining in Melbourne. Shehadie has suggested the place because his mother and Abla Amad are friends. “She’s like an aunty,” he says.

The food is what you’d expect, only better. A starter round of dips and pita is so good that I’m almost full long before the real food arrives. When it does I have no choice but to make room for the moist grilled chicken skewers and garlic dip (white gold, Shehadie calls it) and the “pie” of rice and chicken topped with almond slivers. When it’s over, I have trouble convincing the waitress to take my money; when the bill finally comes, it’s for $137, which is soon crossed out. “Make it $100,” she says.

Bilgic, a former teacher, tells me he has studied comedy extensively, and has even written a course that he intends to offer online. “Performing live is my passion,” he says. But TV takes you to a bigger, broader audience.

It’s the same with those comedy festival galas, where they get to do a short sampler set for a crowd that doesn’t necessarily know their work. “That different audience, an ABC-style crowd, they love it,” says Bilgic. “It’s so exotic, maybe a bit controversial. But they still won’t come to our shows. We kill it for five minutes, they say ‘brilliant, brilliant’. And then they go and see Danny Bhoy.”

Do you think maybe there’s some kind of unofficial apartheid system in Australian comedy?

“Sure, sure,” he says. “We get painted into a corner, ‘these guys are just doing ethnic comedy’. We think we’re doing Australian comedy. We’re doing exactly what other comedians are doing they’re talking about their lives, their experiences, their perspectives on the world. We’re doing the same thing, but through our own eyes, our own experiences. But we get, ‘Oh, they’re just doing wog comedy’ and we never get the awards, we never get the recognition.”

Take the Logies. As the first home-grown sitcom on a commercial network for 15 years, and with a host of photogenic new talent in its cast, Here Come the Habibs might have been expected to figure somewhere among the 2016 contenders. The show was popular, too, its first season averaging 1.8 million viewers an episode (including regional, consolidated and online views). And despite the knee-jerk reaction to its first promo (“trying to take casual racism to a new low” etc) it even got some decent reviews.

“I was confident we were going to get at least nominated,” says Shehadie. But when the nominees were announced, Habibs was not among them.

Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell won most outstanding comedy (an industry-voted award), beating out two more ABC comedies (Please Like Me and Utopia) as well as Stan’s No Activity and the Comedy Channel’s sketch show Open Slather.

It felt, and still feels, like a snub, but success is the best revenge. “We’re happy we’re getting the crowds coming to our live shows, people watching the Habibs,” Shehadie says. “We know we’re doing something right.”

Bilgic, 47, is Turkish-Australian and a Muslim. Shehadie, 40, is Lebanese-Australian and a Christian. They met 18 years ago, on the set of Paul Fenech’s SBS comedy Pizza, a show that also gave the world Rebel Wilson, as well as some dubious humour and memorable catchphrases (“fully sick” perhaps being the most durable).

Shehadie was a state-level rugby player when a mate who was working on the show convinced him to try out. He turned up and was immediately thrown in front of a camera for a scene with Bilgic.

“They said, ‘The camera’s rolling, go for it’,” he recalls. “We were ad-libbing and it just gelled.”

“I had another partner for one episode, a Greek guy,” Bilgic chips in. “I don’t know what happened to him. He disappeared, and then he [Shehadie] turned up.”

“He’s like the fifth Beatle, that guy,” Shehadie says. “‘That Rob Shehadie that was my role’.”

Both see comedy as a means of uniting people. “To see Muslims and Christians all laughing together, that’s what comedy does, that’s what we need,” says Shehadie.

But that doesn’t mean skating over differences. One of the defining traits of the comedy they and their cohort perform is that the quirks and peculiarities of ethnic identities are front and centre think of Joe Avati and George Kapiniaris, with whom they appeared in Straight Outta Compo at this year’s Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals, or Wogs Out of Work creators Simon Palomares and Nick Giannopoulos, whom they acknowledge as pioneers.

That willingness to mine the migrant experience and especially the second-generation experience has long been their strength with the fans. But for those on the outside which, ironically, tends to be the white middle-class that might otherwise constitute the “mainstream” it gives rise to accusations of racism and stereotyping.

Bilgic illustrates the way “white” Australia responds by reference to a show he performed last year called Bogans, Wogs, Asians and Other Aussie Citizens. He toured it around the country, but when it came to playing at Crown in Melbourne, venue management demanded he change the name because it was too offensive. “They were worried about racism,” he says, incredulous. “I should have just pulled out.”

They maynot put it quite this way themselves, but it doesn’t seem too great a stretch to argue that their humour is all about accepting and celebrating the differences that somehow coalesce into the idea of a melting-pot multicultural Australia.

“Assimilate, it’s great here,” Bilgic urges. “You don’t have to lose the old ways altogether, but one of my bugbears is people caring more about something happening thousands of miles away than what is happening here where they’re living.”

Or as someone put it in a recent episode of the second season of Here Come the Habibs, the funny thing about minorities is that when you put them all together they kind of make a majority.

Although Shehadie and Bilgic get credit for the idea of the show, Habibs owes much to the creative input of Phil Lloyd and Ben Davies, of the production company Jungle (The Moodys, No Activity). They gave dramatic shape to what Bilgic and Shehadie had imagined being a more gag-oriented offering.

So, how much does it feel like it’s your show up there?

“Good question,” says Bilgic. “We still want to do a straight comedy, but we’ve learnt a lot about drama. Let’s say 50-50.”

“If we get a few more goes, we can put more of our flavour in,” says Bilgic. “We’ve got some other stuff in the pipeline.”

Among them, he says, is a tonight show he wants to do, but he fears he’ll be met with a familiar refrain. ” ‘What do you mean you want to host it? We want one of the Daddos to host it.’ Why do we have to keep following the same formula? Why can’t you take a punt?”

Almost 30 years after Acropolis Now, commissioning Here Come the Habibs was seen by many as an act of bravery (and by its detractors, conversely and perversely, as a huge step backwards). For Bilgic, that’s indicative of the lack of nerve in Televisionland.

“We’ve broken ground, again,” he says. “We’ve opened the door. But for me the question is why isn’t there more?”

Johannesburg – Judge Billy Mothle has ordered that all the surviving policemen who were involved in the arrest and detention of the struggle veteran Salim Essop and anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Timol, be subpoenaed to testify in court.

Mothle on Thursday said the National Prosecuting Authority must issue subpoenas urgently to the policemen so that they can assist with information as to what really led to Timol’s death.

Mothle wants the police officers to appear in the next sitting of the inquest, expected to take place between July 24 and August 4.

“I will authorise the issue of subpoenas to all the police who were involved in the arrest and interrogation and detention of Mr Essop and Mr Timol. If they are still alive, I am authorising, through the NPA, to issue subpoenas.”

The court heard on Monday that of about 23 security police that were allegedly involved in the matter, only three were still alive. Mothle on Thursday said the police commissioner should assist the court.

READ: ‘They will answer to God’ – Ahmed Timol’s brother

In detention

Timol’s death was ruled a suicide in 1972. However, a private investigation launched by Timol’s family into his death uncovered new evidence which it presented to the NPA, asking for the inquest to be reopened.

On the fourth day of the first sitting of the inquest at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, the court called Professor Kantilal Naik who said he knew Timol from Roodepoort, where they both grew up.

Naik taught at the Roodepoort Indian High School with Timol.

He was arrested on Saturday, October 23, 1971, because of his association with Timol.

The police went to his house and told him that because he was Timol’s friend, he must have been involved in political activity.

Speaking about his time in detention, he said: “The security police were really terrible, they said: ‘Jou bliksem se coolie, ons sal jou wys [You bloody coolie, we will show you]. You are lying.'”

This is what the police said to him after he wrote a statement, with which they were not happy.

“I told them that I am a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and I was not violent. They were not happy.”

READ: Ahmed Timol inquest to inspect scene of his death

Torture

The police were dissatisfied with his statement and then they allegedly began to torture him.

“Using a helicopter method, I was swung like a see-saw on a broomstick. They did this until my hands were immobilised. I could not do basic things.”

Naik could not clean and wash himself, the court heard.

He said one police officer who went by the surname, Van Tonder, apologised to him saying: “Ek is baaie jammer dat hulle het dit gedoen het. [I’m very sorry that they did that.” Subsequent to the torture, he had to undergo physiotherapy treatment for months. He said the torture ended after he was visited by a magistrate, whose name he could not remember.

Timol’s younger brother, Mohammad, who was in police detention and not allowed to attend his brother’s funeral, is expected to testify on Thursday afternoon.

The first sitting of the inquest is expected to end on Friday, June 30, and then resume between July 24 and August 4, and August 10 and 11.

24.com encourages commentary submitted via MyNews24. Contributions of 200 words or more will be considered for publication.

JOHANNESBURG – Government policies are entrenching unequal access to land in and around cities rather than easing the problem, a panel chaired by former President Kgalema Motlanthe has been told.

The high-level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and Acceleration of Fundamental Change is holding a round-table discussion on spatial inequality in Parliament, focusing on peoples access to urban land.

The panel was set up by National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete last year to look at whether laws passed since 1994 are helping or hindering efforts to address poverty, unemployment, job creation, land reform and nation building.

Professor Ivan Turok of the Human Sciences Research Council says state-sponsored housing projects planned for the next two decades will reinforce rather than change the old apartheid pattern where poor and working class people live far from city centres where most jobs can be found.

We need to stop this. We need jobs in these places, not more housing. Shipping people out. Politics is driving this. Governments desperation to do something for the people, we build them houses, but were not thinking about where people are going to work.

Turok is cautioning against a rigid, one-size fits all approach. He says land redistribution on its own is not a solution, and that a much more integrated approach, that includes planning for transport, health, education and other services is the way forward.

A prisoner incarcerated in the Johannesburg Correctional Services facility did not mince his words on Wednesday as he told Parliament officials how prison inmates had been failed by the system.

You are failing us dismally said Ishmael Moshoeshoe an inmate serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes.

He has already spent 17 years at Sun City as the prison is popularly known.

The apartheid system was better…. The white people were doing it better. You are failing us Moshoeshoe said to the applause of fellow inmates.

He was addressing officials at a site visit attended by Parliaments Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services led by chairman Dr Mathole Motshekga.

The purpose of the visit was to observe the general conditions of incarceration for inmates.

Summing up the issues of the prisoners Moshoeshoe said there were no education facilities and that medication for inmates living with HIV was hard to come by.

He stressed that not all prisoners were given uniforms; there were not enough jerseys and blankets for all of them. Inmates were forced to shower with cold water and at times had toilet paper shortages.

There has been no solution to overcrowding he stressed. In one particular case 68 prisoners shared a single cell which contained only two toilets.

There was hardly any room to move in the cell with prisoners belongings including radios and TV sets bundled up next to their bunk beds.

Their face cloths wet underwear civilian clothing and bright orange uniforms hung on the burglar bars of prison cells while others lay their washed clothing on the cement ground to dry..

The stench of Jeyes Fluid lingered in the air as the wind blew shortly after an inmate mopped the cold corridors outside the cells.

Stressing the issue of overcrowding Moshoeshoe said at least five prisoners were released each week while hundreds were brought in within the same period mostly for parole violation.

He accused the government of not being concerned about their needs.

All you are interested in is statistics he said implying that to the media the department portrayed Sun City as a well-oiled machine while this was far from the truth.

He lambasted officials for bragging of obtaining clean audits while conditions inside were dire and justice was slow to come by.

Following the visit however Motshekga stressed that there have been problems for a long time but strides had been made by the likes of Acting Commissioner James Smalberger.

You can see they get clean audits. Their administration is perfect said Motshekga.

Things that remain undone are things which are beyond their powers he added.

This was not Motshekgas first visit to the facility. He told the media that there was nothing new he had picked up in his latest interaction with the prisoners.

What it confirms is that people have been here for long. They are frustrated… Some of the things they raised are things which are being addressed by the officials of the centre but we do understand that some of the things are being raised for emphasis Motshekga said.

He said it was up to members of parliament who decide on the budget to pull up their socks and not let down officials who are the face of government.

Meanwhile Moshoeshoe warned that a lack of rehabilitation programmes in the facility made it a breeding ground for more criminal activity.

Once these people get out of here your alarm systems and cameras wont help you he said emphasising that they would return to the world of crime because they were never rehabilitated.

Stop labelling this place as a correctional service but call it a prison because that it is what it is. We are being punished here….

Earlier this week pictures of scantily-dressed woman who came to give entertainment to the prisoners on Youth Day surfaced on social media.

Following the incident Acting National Commissioner James Smalberger said that such an event should never have taken place in a correctional environment.

An investigation was underway which could see 13 prison officials lose their jobs.

Commenting on the matter Motshekga called for the department to be allowed to conduct their investigation in order to reveal the truth of how the incident happened.

As the nation is sucked into national crisis after national crisis, the small everyday suffering of ordinary people in their pursuit of justice and equality remain forgotten. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

The inquest into the death of Ahmed Timol, an anti apartheid activist, which began at the South Gauteng High Court reveals old wounds. Timol was the 22nd person to die in detention; and 45 years later the only official record of his death is the initial inquest which concluded that he committed suicide and absolved the police of any blame. But the reopening of the inquest into the circumstances surrounding his death is more than just an effort in providing closure to his family. It is testimony to a countrys unresolved past which is haunted by the ghosts of the dead, the cries of the missing, the tortured and the wounded. For them the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided no answers and little sense of justice.

But as the testimony of his compatriot who was also detained and tortured and the review of the blunt and blatantly distorted apartheid era judicial proceedings unfolded in court, the inquest also raised two hard questions that South Africa still confronts today.

Timol was not the only activist who died or went missing during apartheid. But his is one of the first cases which is being revisited in a judicial proceeding in the post TRC-era. To convince the National Prosecuting Authority, the NPA, to reopen the docket, the Timol family had to rely on a private investigation and assistance from a leading human rights organisation.

Both are privileges that the majority of other families of victims of apartheid era crimes have no access to. For them, the questions surrounding the disappearance or death of loves ones, the justice for rights violated remains out of reach. Although Timol and many others died for the fight against inequality, in a democratic South Africa, race and class remain significant shapers of position and power. This is especially true in the criminal justice system where the poor are left at the mercy of police and prosecutors.

Ongoing research on the informal mining sector, reveals that the zama zama- often poor and foreign – are subject to severe forms of police brutality and extortion, including being detained without charge for weeks, denied a bail hearing within 24 hours as dockets go missing, and state appointed defence attorneys are unable or unwilling to verify addresses and names.

One man, a 32 year old from Zimbabwe who works as an informal miner in the West Rand, was held in detention for 93. His family went from legal aid office to legal aid office, paid for a private attorney who failed to appear in court, resorted to a bribe to see hi in prison and take him medication and eventually secured his release on a warning for trespassing

Second, the inquest heard at length of the brutality of the then security police as they violated the rights and spirits of activists, their families and communities. As the investigation painfully reconstructs the interrogating team and tries to track down any survivors, outside court on the streets in Johannesburg the new democratic police force continues to operate with impunity and discrimination.

For foreigners the police are a threat to the many who hustle to make a living selling on the kerbside- many glance nervously as around as they fear raids fro by law infringements, knowing that a small bribe will get their goods released, and their charges dropped yet again. Alongside them poor South Africans face the on-going threat of illegal and violent evictions. All of this is neither new nor surprising.

Just a week before the Timol inquest began the IPID released a report showing that deaths in police detention have risen dramatically – from April to September 2016, 159 people died in policy custody across the country. The IPID 2015/6 annual report shows that 69% of the 333 deaths reported in police custody in that period were finalised. 333 deaths in police custody. This is addition to the 713 cases of death reported as a direct result of police action. In one year, more than 1000 people died at the hands of the police. Not a security police working for an illegitimate government, a police force that is meant to serve and protect the country and its residents.

Yet as the behaviour of the police from Marikana to #FeesMustFall to the everyday policing of service delivery protests shows, the leadership, capacity and tactics of the police force is left wanting.

Yet there remains little leadership and direction from government on improving the accountability and services of the police, to ensure that justice is saved and that the weak and the poor have equitable access to the criminal justice system. It should not fall to families to rely NGOs and privately funded investigations to seek answers from the state. As the nation is sucked into national crisis after national crisis, the small everyday suffering of ordinary people in their pursuit of justice and equality remain forgotten.

Zaheera Jinnah is a researcher at Wits University, she writes in her personal capacity.

Israel has reportedly approved a budget for the construction of the so-called Eastern Ring Road in the occupied West Bank, known by activists and rights groups as the Apartheid road.

The road, part of Israels plans of developing the controversial E1 corridor, has been denounced as an attempt to further expand illegal Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory, while deepening the separation between Palestinian communities on opposite sides of Israels separation wall.

According to a statement released by Israeli rights group Ir Amim on Monday, the development of the road is one of several developments necessary for preparing the ground for E1.

The reports emerged from Israeli media outlet Israel Hayom, which stated that the road is expected to be opened to Israeli traffic in the next 10 months.

According to rights groups, settlement construction in E1 would effectively divide the West Bank and make the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state as envisaged by the internationally backed two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict almost impossible.

Israeli activity in E1 has attracted widespread international condemnation, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has in the past said that E1 is a red line that cannot be crossed.

However, the Eastern Ring Road was proposed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a plan to apparently solve the issue of bifurcating the West Bank, by facilitating navigation from Ramallah to Bethlehem for Palestinians but without any access to Jerusalem.

A map showing the boundaries, settlements, barriers and roads in the Israeli occupied Jerusalem and West Bank [Ir Amim]

Following the second Palestinian intifada and Israels construction of the separation wall that has disjointed Palestinian territory, Palestinians from the West Bank side of the separation barrier have been forced to obtain Israeli-issued permits in order to access occupied East Jerusalem, which some Palestinians and the international community still consider to be the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.

A map released by Ir Amim shows the expected route of the road. According to the group, the road would ease access for Israeli settlers residing around Ramallah in contravention of international law, as settlers have long exerted pressure to open the road, complaining about traffic jams and delays.

Read:Knesset passes draft bill to annex illegal West Bank settlements

Ir Amim pointed out that the Israels plan would enable further expansions of Israels illegal settlements around Ramallah.

The road is also planned to connect with Road 1 that connects the mega settlement Maale Adumim with Jerusalem, and would also link to the Mount Scopus Tunnel Road through the Zeitim interchange, another controversial E1 related project that Israeli authorities had begun construction on several months ago, according to Ir Amim.

Israels plans in E1 have long been denounced by rights groups and the international community since its approval in 1999, in the wake of the Oslo Accords which expected the area of E1 to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) within an interim period of five years.

Coligny's sad seeds were sown in apartheid and are still growingBusiness Day (registration)Black residents say the boy died because apartheid is still alive and well in Coligny. Poverty is entrenched in the small town, which has an annual household income of R29,400 according to Wazimap, an open platform source that uses census figures and …

Hamas recently accused USPresident Donald Trump of encouraging apartheid during his speech last month at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The speech was racist, the terror group claimed, and establishesa new Israeli apartheid regime and encourages hatred towards the Palestinian people.

To brand Israel as an apartheid state, isas South Africans other than Desmond Tutu testifya corruption of the word apartheid, and a distortion of Israeli society and minority rights. The word apartheid was first used in 1947 in South Africa tolegislate segregation of whites and blacks. And today, it is not unusual to hear the claim that Jewsin their ancient homelandare like South African Boer colonialists.

Yet unlike in South Africa, Israels Declaration of Independence assured non-Jewish residents of Israel (20% of the population) equal civil and religious rights. The anti-humanitariancrime of apartheidis foreign to the ethos of the racially diverse Jewish nation. In fact, Israels diverse population includes more than100,000 Ethiopian Jews and more than 1.5 millionArab citizens.

June 27, 2017 3:39 pm

Non-Jews in Israel enjoy genuine freedom in stark contrastto the status of Jews, Christians and Hindus in much of the Muslim world. And the equal treatment of all of Israels citizens can be seen by visiting and traveling the length and breadth of the Jewish state. A visit toany Israeli hospital proves how Arabs and Jews mix freely and equally as patients, attending physicians and administrators.

For those who do not like hospitals, a visit to the nearest mall will also demonstrate how Jews and Arabs mix freely and easily in full equality. In fact, it is often impossible to distinguish between Jews and Muslims.

Furthermore, Israels Muslims are represented in all walks of life from MKs and government ministers to judges, professors, physicians, entertainers, and senior business and community leaders. Furthermore, the Arab minority in Israel is educated in Arab-speaking public schools administered by Arabs in their own cultural and religious traditions. Israeli Arabselect Arab MKs some of whom refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Jewish nation,and advocate for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. Such rights would surely not be available in an apartheid nation.

And what about the status of Arabs living in the West Bank?

The West Bank of the Jordan River was originally part of the Jewish national homeland,per the Mandate for Palestine (1922). Pursuant to the armistice agreements ending Israels War of Independence, part of the WestBank was illegally occupied by Jordan. In 1967, Israel defended itselfagainst an Arab war of aggression to destroy the Jewish state, and retook control of the West Bank. In the hope of creating a permanent regional peace immediately after the 1967 war, Israel offered to negotiate modified borders with its neighbors in exchange for permanent peace. The proposal was rejected with the infamous Khartoum pronouncement:no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it.

The rejection of Israeli efforts to seek peace left Israel with little choice but to take the measures necessary to ensure its internal security. In order to prevent further terrorist intifadas, and to protect itself from jihadists, suicide bombers, Molotov cocktails, guns, knives and rocks, Israel has implemented security measures that have sometimes made life harder for West Bank Palestinians. But the fact that Israel employs measures to suppress terrorism and violence has nothing to do with apartheid, racial prejudiceor any effort to extinguish or oppress a minority population. The PLO Charter (1964) and the Hamas Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (1988) on the other hand call for the annihilation of the Jewish state (and all Jews in it).

In1993,Israel hoped to end its involvementin the West Bank, and entered into the Oslo Accords. Oslo created the Palestinian Authority, and led to the WestBank beingdivided into three areas. Area A, with more than97% of the Arab population is semi-autonomous, and governed by the Palestinian Authority; Area B is jointly administered; and Area C is under Israeli control. After the failure of the Camp David peace talks in 2000 and the subsequent outbreak of an intifada, Israel implemented security measures including checkpoints and barriers that restricted access to Israel from the West Bank. As a result, suicide bombings and violence were severely curtailed. And still,life for Arabs in the West Bank is safer and more prosperous thanin most neighboring Muslim countries.

If you want to find apartheid, however, just travel to the Palestinian territories.The Palestinian Authoritys quest to create a Judenrein state in the West Bank can be properly branded as apartheid. No Jews allowed is the sign blocking Israeli Jews from entering Area A, and even parts of Jerusalem. But when it comes to Arabs in Israel, there is no apartheid.

Rob Shehadie and Tahir Bilgic should be laughing. They have thriving careers on the stand-up comedy circuit, make a very healthy living doing corporate gigs and MC-ing work, and are co-creators of a hit television show, Here Come the Habibs, in which they also have on-screen roles. But something grates. Specifically, it’s the way their comedy is still thought of as a sub-category, “ethnic comedy”, rather than part of the mainstream. “We go around the country performing, we know what Australians are laughing at,” says Shehadie, who plays Jahesh, best mate of serial “wogpreneur” Toufic Habib (Sam Alhaje) in Nine’s sitcom. “That’s what we tell the networks,” says Bilgic, who appears as the taxi-driving Mustafa. “Every capital city, a lot of country towns, doing shows, talking to the punters we know.” When they play in the bush, they change their material to suit the crowd. Weddings, they tweak it. Twenty-firsts well, those they don’t do any more because every idiot with a belly full of beer thinks he’s funnier than the talent, and frankly who needs the grief? But not much fazes them. “We’ve done the mines,” says Shehadie. “A 7am show for the night-shift guys.” Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox. “They aren’t after knock-knock jokes, I can tell you,” notes Bilgic. “It was 48 degrees that day,” Shehadie remembers. “We were outdoors, flies everywhere. They enjoyed it, but it was a challenge.” We’re lunching at Abla’s, that stalwart of Lebanese dining in Melbourne. Shehadie has suggested the place because his mother and Abla Amad are friends. “She’s like an aunty,” he says. The food is what you’d expect, only better. A starter round of dips and pita is so good that I’m almost full long before the real food arrives. When it does I have no choice but to make room for the moist grilled chicken skewers and garlic dip (white gold, Shehadie calls it) and the “pie” of rice and chicken topped with almond slivers. When it’s over, I have trouble convincing the waitress to take my money; when the bill finally comes, it’s for $137, which is soon crossed out. “Make it $100,” she says. Bilgic, a former teacher, tells me he has studied comedy extensively, and has even written a course that he intends to offer online. “Performing live is my passion,” he says. But TV takes you to a bigger, broader audience. It’s the same with those comedy festival galas, where they get to do a short sampler set for a crowd that doesn’t necessarily know their work. “That different audience, an ABC-style crowd, they love it,” says Bilgic. “It’s so exotic, maybe a bit controversial. But they still won’t come to our shows. We kill it for five minutes, they say ‘brilliant, brilliant’. And then they go and see Danny Bhoy.” Do you think maybe there’s some kind of unofficial apartheid system in Australian comedy? “Sure, sure,” he says. “We get painted into a corner, ‘these guys are just doing ethnic comedy’. We think we’re doing Australian comedy. We’re doing exactly what other comedians are doing they’re talking about their lives, their experiences, their perspectives on the world. We’re doing the same thing, but through our own eyes, our own experiences. But we get, ‘Oh, they’re just doing wog comedy’ and we never get the awards, we never get the recognition.” Take the Logies. As the first home-grown sitcom on a commercial network for 15 years, and with a host of photogenic new talent in its cast, Here Come the Habibs might have been expected to figure somewhere among the 2016 contenders. The show was popular, too, its first season averaging 1.8 million viewers an episode (including regional, consolidated and online views). And despite the knee-jerk reaction to its first promo (“trying to take casual racism to a new low” etc) it even got some decent reviews. “I was confident we were going to get at least nominated,” says Shehadie. But when the nominees were announced, Habibs was not among them. Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell won most outstanding comedy (an industry-voted award), beating out two more ABC comedies (Please Like Me and Utopia) as well as Stan’s No Activity and the Comedy Channel’s sketch show Open Slather. It felt, and still feels, like a snub, but success is the best revenge. “We’re happy we’re getting the crowds coming to our live shows, people watching the Habibs,” Shehadie says. “We know we’re doing something right.” “We’re going to keep pushing,” adds Bilgic, “trying to change the landscape”. Bilgic, 47, is Turkish-Australian and a Muslim. Shehadie, 40, is Lebanese-Australian and a Christian. They met 18 years ago, on the set of Paul Fenech’s SBS comedy Pizza, a show that also gave the world Rebel Wilson, as well as some dubious humour and memorable catchphrases (“fully sick” perhaps being the most durable). Shehadie was a state-level rugby player when a mate who was working on the show convinced him to try out. He turned up and was immediately thrown in front of a camera for a scene with Bilgic. “They said, ‘The camera’s rolling, go for it’,” he recalls. “We were ad-libbing and it just gelled.” “I had another partner for one episode, a Greek guy,” Bilgic chips in. “I don’t know what happened to him. He disappeared, and then he [Shehadie] turned up.” “He’s like the fifth Beatle, that guy,” Shehadie says. “‘That Rob Shehadie that was my role’.” Both see comedy as a means of uniting people. “To see Muslims and Christians all laughing together, that’s what comedy does, that’s what we need,” says Shehadie. But that doesn’t mean skating over differences. One of the defining traits of the comedy they and their cohort perform is that the quirks and peculiarities of ethnic identities are front and centre think of Joe Avati and George Kapiniaris, with whom they appeared in Straight Outta Compo at this year’s Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals, or Wogs Out of Work creators Simon Palomares and Nick Giannopoulos, whom they acknowledge as pioneers. That willingness to mine the migrant experience and especially the second-generation experience has long been their strength with the fans. But for those on the outside which, ironically, tends to be the white middle-class that might otherwise constitute the “mainstream” it gives rise to accusations of racism and stereotyping. Bilgic illustrates the way “white” Australia responds by reference to a show he performed last year called Bogans, Wogs, Asians and Other Aussie Citizens. He toured it around the country, but when it came to playing at Crown in Melbourne, venue management demanded he change the name because it was too offensive. “They were worried about racism,” he says, incredulous. “I should have just pulled out.” They maynot put it quite this way themselves, but it doesn’t seem too great a stretch to argue that their humour is all about accepting and celebrating the differences that somehow coalesce into the idea of a melting-pot multicultural Australia. “Assimilate, it’s great here,” Bilgic urges. “You don’t have to lose the old ways altogether, but one of my bugbears is people caring more about something happening thousands of miles away than what is happening here where they’re living.” Or as someone put it in a recent episode of the second season of Here Come the Habibs, the funny thing about minorities is that when you put them all together they kind of make a majority. Although Shehadie and Bilgic get credit for the idea of the show, Habibs owes much to the creative input of Phil Lloyd and Ben Davies, of the production company Jungle (The Moodys, No Activity). They gave dramatic shape to what Bilgic and Shehadie had imagined being a more gag-oriented offering. So, how much does it feel like it’s your show up there? “Good question,” says Bilgic. “We still want to do a straight comedy, but we’ve learnt a lot about drama. Let’s say 50-50.” “It’s a stepping stone,” says Shehadie. “We’re finding people are taking us seriously now.” “If we get a few more goes, we can put more of our flavour in,” says Bilgic. “We’ve got some other stuff in the pipeline.” Among them, he says, is a tonight show he wants to do, but he fears he’ll be met with a familiar refrain. ” ‘What do you mean you want to host it? We want one of the Daddos to host it.’ Why do we have to keep following the same formula? Why can’t you take a punt?” Almost 30 years after Acropolis Now, commissioning Here Come the Habibs was seen by many as an act of bravery (and by its detractors, conversely and perversely, as a huge step backwards). For Bilgic, that’s indicative of the lack of nerve in Televisionland. “We’ve broken ground, again,” he says. “We’ve opened the door. But for me the question is why isn’t there more?” Here Come the Habibs is on Nine on Mondays at 8pm. Facebook:karlquinnjournalist Twitter:@karlkwin

Johannesburg – Judge Billy Mothle has ordered that all the surviving policemen who were involved in the arrest and detention of the struggle veteran Salim Essop and anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Timol, be subpoenaed to testify in court. Mothle on Thursday said the National Prosecuting Authority must issue subpoenas urgently to the policemen so that they can assist with information as to what really led to Timol’s death. Mothle wants the police officers to appear in the next sitting of the inquest, expected to take place between July 24 and August 4. “I will authorise the issue of subpoenas to all the police who were involved in the arrest and interrogation and detention of Mr Essop and Mr Timol. If they are still alive, I am authorising, through the NPA, to issue subpoenas.” The court heard on Monday that of about 23 security police that were allegedly involved in the matter, only three were still alive. Mothle on Thursday said the police commissioner should assist the court. READ: ‘They will answer to God’ – Ahmed Timol’s brother In detention Timol’s death was ruled a suicide in 1972. However, a private investigation launched by Timol’s family into his death uncovered new evidence which it presented to the NPA, asking for the inquest to be reopened. On the fourth day of the first sitting of the inquest at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, the court called Professor Kantilal Naik who said he knew Timol from Roodepoort, where they both grew up. Naik taught at the Roodepoort Indian High School with Timol. He was arrested on Saturday, October 23, 1971, because of his association with Timol. The police went to his house and told him that because he was Timol’s friend, he must have been involved in political activity. Speaking about his time in detention, he said: “The security police were really terrible, they said: ‘Jou bliksem se coolie, ons sal jou wys [You bloody coolie, we will show you]. You are lying.'” This is what the police said to him after he wrote a statement, with which they were not happy. “I told them that I am a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and I was not violent. They were not happy.” READ: Ahmed Timol inquest to inspect scene of his death Torture The police were dissatisfied with his statement and then they allegedly began to torture him. “Using a helicopter method, I was swung like a see-saw on a broomstick. They did this until my hands were immobilised. I could not do basic things.” Naik could not clean and wash himself, the court heard. He said one police officer who went by the surname, Van Tonder, apologised to him saying: “Ek is baaie jammer dat hulle het dit gedoen het. [I’m very sorry that they did that.” Subsequent to the torture, he had to undergo physiotherapy treatment for months. He said the torture ended after he was visited by a magistrate, whose name he could not remember. Timol’s younger brother, Mohammad, who was in police detention and not allowed to attend his brother’s funeral, is expected to testify on Thursday afternoon. The first sitting of the inquest is expected to end on Friday, June 30, and then resume between July 24 and August 4, and August 10 and 11. 24.com encourages commentary submitted via MyNews24. Contributions of 200 words or more will be considered for publication.

State-sponsored housing reinforces apartheid spatial pattern Professor Ivan Turok says state-sponsored housing projects reinforce the old apartheid pattern where poor & working class people live far from city centres where most jobs are. FILE: President Jacob Zuma officially opening the N2 Gateway Integrated Human Settlements Development at the Joe Slovo housing project in Cape Town. Picture: GCIS. JOHANNESBURG – Government policies are entrenching unequal access to land in and around cities rather than easing the problem, a panel chaired by former President Kgalema Motlanthe has been told. The high-level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and Acceleration of Fundamental Change is holding a round-table discussion on spatial inequality in Parliament, focusing on peoples access to urban land. The panel was set up by National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete last year to look at whether laws passed since 1994 are helping or hindering efforts to address poverty, unemployment, job creation, land reform and nation building. Professor Ivan Turok of the Human Sciences Research Council says state-sponsored housing projects planned for the next two decades will reinforce rather than change the old apartheid pattern where poor and working class people live far from city centres where most jobs can be found. We need to stop this. We need jobs in these places, not more housing. Shipping people out. Politics is driving this. Governments desperation to do something for the people, we build them houses, but were not thinking about where people are going to work. Turok is cautioning against a rigid, one-size fits all approach. He says land redistribution on its own is not a solution, and that a much more integrated approach, that includes planning for transport, health, education and other services is the way forward. (Edited by Zinhle Nkosi) However, we will NOT condone the following: – Racism (including offensive comments based on ethnicity and nationality) – Sexism – Homophobia – Religious intolerance – Cyber bullying – Hate speech – Derogatory language – Comments inciting violence. We ask that your comments remain relevant to the articles they appear on and do not include general banter or conversation as this dilutes the effectiveness of the comments section. We strive to make the EWN community a safe and welcoming space for all. EWN reserves the right to: 1) remove any comments that do not follow the above guidelines; and, 2) ban users who repeatedly infringe the rules. Should you find any comments upsetting or offensive you can also flag them and we will assess it against our guidelines. EWN is constantly reviewing its comments policy in order to create an environment conducive to constructive conversations.

A prisoner in a Johannesburg correctional services facility did not mince his words yesterday as he told parliament officials how prison inmates had been failed by the system. “You are failing us dismally,” said Ishmael Moshoeshoe, who is serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes at Johannesburg’s Medium B prison in Naturena. He has already spent 17 years at “Sun City”, as the prison is popularly known. “The apartheid system was better. The white people were doing it better. You are failing us,” Moshoeshoe said to the applause of fellow inmates. He was speaking to officials at a site visit attended by parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services, led by chairman Mathole Motshekga. The purpose of the visit was to observe the general conditions of incarceration for the inmates. Summing up the issues of the prisoners, Moshoeshoe said there were no education facilities and medication for inmates living with HIV was hard to come by. He said not all prisoners had uniforms and there were not enough jerseys and blankets for all of them. Inmates were forced to shower in cold water and at times there was no toilet paper. “There has been no solution to overcrowding,” he said. In one case 68 prisoners shared a single cell that contained only two toilets, he said. There was hardly any room to move in the cell with prisoners’ belongings, including radios and TV sets, bundled up next to their bunk beds. Their face cloths, wet underwear, civilian clothing and bright orange uniforms hung on the bars of prison cells and their washed clothing was left on the cement ground to dry. Moshoeshoe said at least five prisoners were released each week while hundreds were brought in within the same period, mostly for parole violations. He accused the government of not being concerned about their needs. “All you are interested in are statistics,” he said. He lambasted officials for bragging about obtaining clean audits when conditions inside were dire and justice was slow. Moshoeshoe warned that a lack of rehabilitation programmes made it a breeding ground for more criminal activity. Motshekga said there had been problems for a long time but strides had been made by acting commissioner James Smalberger and others. “You can see they get clean audits. Their administration is perfect,” said Motshekga.

A prisoner incarcerated in the Johannesburg Correctional Services facility did not mince his words on Wednesday as he told Parliament officials how prison inmates had been failed by the system. You are failing us dismally said Ishmael Moshoeshoe an inmate serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes. He has already spent 17 years at Sun City as the prison is popularly known. The apartheid system was better…. The white people were doing it better. You are failing us Moshoeshoe said to the applause of fellow inmates. He was addressing officials at a site visit attended by Parliaments Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services led by chairman Dr Mathole Motshekga. The purpose of the visit was to observe the general conditions of incarceration for inmates. Summing up the issues of the prisoners Moshoeshoe said there were no education facilities and that medication for inmates living with HIV was hard to come by. He stressed that not all prisoners were given uniforms; there were not enough jerseys and blankets for all of them. Inmates were forced to shower with cold water and at times had toilet paper shortages. There has been no solution to overcrowding he stressed. In one particular case 68 prisoners shared a single cell which contained only two toilets. There was hardly any room to move in the cell with prisoners belongings including radios and TV sets bundled up next to their bunk beds. Their face cloths wet underwear civilian clothing and bright orange uniforms hung on the burglar bars of prison cells while others lay their washed clothing on the cement ground to dry.. The stench of Jeyes Fluid lingered in the air as the wind blew shortly after an inmate mopped the cold corridors outside the cells. Stressing the issue of overcrowding Moshoeshoe said at least five prisoners were released each week while hundreds were brought in within the same period mostly for parole violation. He accused the government of not being concerned about their needs. All you are interested in is statistics he said implying that to the media the department portrayed Sun City as a well-oiled machine while this was far from the truth. He lambasted officials for bragging of obtaining clean audits while conditions inside were dire and justice was slow to come by. Following the visit however Motshekga stressed that there have been problems for a long time but strides had been made by the likes of Acting Commissioner James Smalberger. You can see they get clean audits. Their administration is perfect said Motshekga. Things that remain undone are things which are beyond their powers he added. This was not Motshekgas first visit to the facility. He told the media that there was nothing new he had picked up in his latest interaction with the prisoners. What it confirms is that people have been here for long. They are frustrated… Some of the things they raised are things which are being addressed by the officials of the centre but we do understand that some of the things are being raised for emphasis Motshekga said. He said it was up to members of parliament who decide on the budget to pull up their socks and not let down officials who are the face of government. Meanwhile Moshoeshoe warned that a lack of rehabilitation programmes in the facility made it a breeding ground for more criminal activity. Once these people get out of here your alarm systems and cameras wont help you he said emphasising that they would return to the world of crime because they were never rehabilitated. Stop labelling this place as a correctional service but call it a prison because that it is what it is. We are being punished here…. Earlier this week pictures of scantily-dressed woman who came to give entertainment to the prisoners on Youth Day surfaced on social media. Following the incident Acting National Commissioner James Smalberger said that such an event should never have taken place in a correctional environment. An investigation was underway which could see 13 prison officials lose their jobs. Commenting on the matter Motshekga called for the department to be allowed to conduct their investigation in order to reveal the truth of how the incident happened.

As the nation is sucked into national crisis after national crisis, the small everyday suffering of ordinary people in their pursuit of justice and equality remain forgotten. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G) The inquest into the death of Ahmed Timol, an anti apartheid activist, which began at the South Gauteng High Court reveals old wounds. Timol was the 22nd person to die in detention; and 45 years later the only official record of his death is the initial inquest which concluded that he committed suicide and absolved the police of any blame. But the reopening of the inquest into the circumstances surrounding his death is more than just an effort in providing closure to his family. It is testimony to a countrys unresolved past which is haunted by the ghosts of the dead, the cries of the missing, the tortured and the wounded. For them the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided no answers and little sense of justice. But as the testimony of his compatriot who was also detained and tortured and the review of the blunt and blatantly distorted apartheid era judicial proceedings unfolded in court, the inquest also raised two hard questions that South Africa still confronts today. Timol was not the only activist who died or went missing during apartheid. But his is one of the first cases which is being revisited in a judicial proceeding in the post TRC-era. To convince the National Prosecuting Authority, the NPA, to reopen the docket, the Timol family had to rely on a private investigation and assistance from a leading human rights organisation. Both are privileges that the majority of other families of victims of apartheid era crimes have no access to. For them, the questions surrounding the disappearance or death of loves ones, the justice for rights violated remains out of reach. Although Timol and many others died for the fight against inequality, in a democratic South Africa, race and class remain significant shapers of position and power. This is especially true in the criminal justice system where the poor are left at the mercy of police and prosecutors. Ongoing research on the informal mining sector, reveals that the zama zama- often poor and foreign – are subject to severe forms of police brutality and extortion, including being detained without charge for weeks, denied a bail hearing within 24 hours as dockets go missing, and state appointed defence attorneys are unable or unwilling to verify addresses and names. One man, a 32 year old from Zimbabwe who works as an informal miner in the West Rand, was held in detention for 93. His family went from legal aid office to legal aid office, paid for a private attorney who failed to appear in court, resorted to a bribe to see hi in prison and take him medication and eventually secured his release on a warning for trespassing Second, the inquest heard at length of the brutality of the then security police as they violated the rights and spirits of activists, their families and communities. As the investigation painfully reconstructs the interrogating team and tries to track down any survivors, outside court on the streets in Johannesburg the new democratic police force continues to operate with impunity and discrimination. For foreigners the police are a threat to the many who hustle to make a living selling on the kerbside- many glance nervously as around as they fear raids fro by law infringements, knowing that a small bribe will get their goods released, and their charges dropped yet again. Alongside them poor South Africans face the on-going threat of illegal and violent evictions. All of this is neither new nor surprising. Just a week before the Timol inquest began the IPID released a report showing that deaths in police detention have risen dramatically – from April to September 2016, 159 people died in policy custody across the country. The IPID 2015/6 annual report shows that 69% of the 333 deaths reported in police custody in that period were finalised. 333 deaths in police custody. This is addition to the 713 cases of death reported as a direct result of police action. In one year, more than 1000 people died at the hands of the police. Not a security police working for an illegitimate government, a police force that is meant to serve and protect the country and its residents. Yet as the behaviour of the police from Marikana to #FeesMustFall to the everyday policing of service delivery protests shows, the leadership, capacity and tactics of the police force is left wanting. Yet there remains little leadership and direction from government on improving the accountability and services of the police, to ensure that justice is saved and that the weak and the poor have equitable access to the criminal justice system. It should not fall to families to rely NGOs and privately funded investigations to seek answers from the state. As the nation is sucked into national crisis after national crisis, the small everyday suffering of ordinary people in their pursuit of justice and equality remain forgotten. Zaheera Jinnah is a researcher at Wits University, she writes in her personal capacity.

Israel has reportedly approved a budget for the construction of the so-called Eastern Ring Road in the occupied West Bank, known by activists and rights groups as the Apartheid road. The road, part of Israels plans of developing the controversial E1 corridor, has been denounced as an attempt to further expand illegal Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory, while deepening the separation between Palestinian communities on opposite sides of Israels separation wall. According to a statement released by Israeli rights group Ir Amim on Monday, the development of the road is one of several developments necessary for preparing the ground for E1. The reports emerged from Israeli media outlet Israel Hayom, which stated that the road is expected to be opened to Israeli traffic in the next 10 months. According to rights groups, settlement construction in E1 would effectively divide the West Bank and make the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state as envisaged by the internationally backed two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict almost impossible. Israeli activity in E1 has attracted widespread international condemnation, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has in the past said that E1 is a red line that cannot be crossed. However, the Eastern Ring Road was proposed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a plan to apparently solve the issue of bifurcating the West Bank, by facilitating navigation from Ramallah to Bethlehem for Palestinians but without any access to Jerusalem. A map showing the boundaries, settlements, barriers and roads in the Israeli occupied Jerusalem and West Bank [Ir Amim] Following the second Palestinian intifada and Israels construction of the separation wall that has disjointed Palestinian territory, Palestinians from the West Bank side of the separation barrier have been forced to obtain Israeli-issued permits in order to access occupied East Jerusalem, which some Palestinians and the international community still consider to be the future capital of an independent Palestinian state. A map released by Ir Amim shows the expected route of the road. According to the group, the road would ease access for Israeli settlers residing around Ramallah in contravention of international law, as settlers have long exerted pressure to open the road, complaining about traffic jams and delays. Read:Knesset passes draft bill to annex illegal West Bank settlements Ir Amim pointed out that the Israels plan would enable further expansions of Israels illegal settlements around Ramallah. The road is also planned to connect with Road 1 that connects the mega settlement Maale Adumim with Jerusalem, and would also link to the Mount Scopus Tunnel Road through the Zeitim interchange, another controversial E1 related project that Israeli authorities had begun construction on several months ago, according to Ir Amim. Israels plans in E1 have long been denounced by rights groups and the international community since its approval in 1999, in the wake of the Oslo Accords which expected the area of E1 to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) within an interim period of five years.

Business Day (registration) Coligny's sad seeds were sown in apartheid and are still growing Business Day (registration) Black residents say the boy died because apartheid is still alive and well in Coligny. Poverty is entrenched in the small town, which has an annual household income of R29,400 according to Wazimap, an open platform source that uses census figures and …

Israels parliament, the Knesset. Photo: Itzik Edri via Wikimedia Commons. Hamas recently accused USPresident Donald Trump of encouraging apartheid during his speech last month at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The speech was racist, the terror group claimed, and establishesa new Israeli apartheid regime and encourages hatred towards the Palestinian people. To brand Israel as an apartheid state, isas South Africans other than Desmond Tutu testifya corruption of the word apartheid, and a distortion of Israeli society and minority rights. The word apartheid was first used in 1947 in South Africa tolegislate segregation of whites and blacks. And today, it is not unusual to hear the claim that Jewsin their ancient homelandare like South African Boer colonialists. Yet unlike in South Africa, Israels Declaration of Independence assured non-Jewish residents of Israel (20% of the population) equal civil and religious rights. The anti-humanitariancrime of apartheidis foreign to the ethos of the racially diverse Jewish nation. In fact, Israels diverse population includes more than100,000 Ethiopian Jews and more than 1.5 millionArab citizens. June 27, 2017 3:39 pm Non-Jews in Israel enjoy genuine freedom in stark contrastto the status of Jews, Christians and Hindus in much of the Muslim world. And the equal treatment of all of Israels citizens can be seen by visiting and traveling the length and breadth of the Jewish state. A visit toany Israeli hospital proves how Arabs and Jews mix freely and equally as patients, attending physicians and administrators. For those who do not like hospitals, a visit to the nearest mall will also demonstrate how Jews and Arabs mix freely and easily in full equality. In fact, it is often impossible to distinguish between Jews and Muslims. Furthermore, Israels Muslims are represented in all walks of life from MKs and government ministers to judges, professors, physicians, entertainers, and senior business and community leaders. Furthermore, the Arab minority in Israel is educated in Arab-speaking public schools administered by Arabs in their own cultural and religious traditions. Israeli Arabselect Arab MKs some of whom refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Jewish nation,and advocate for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. Such rights would surely not be available in an apartheid nation. And what about the status of Arabs living in the West Bank? The West Bank of the Jordan River was originally part of the Jewish national homeland,per the Mandate for Palestine (1922). Pursuant to the armistice agreements ending Israels War of Independence, part of the WestBank was illegally occupied by Jordan. In 1967, Israel defended itselfagainst an Arab war of aggression to destroy the Jewish state, and retook control of the West Bank. In the hope of creating a permanent regional peace immediately after the 1967 war, Israel offered to negotiate modified borders with its neighbors in exchange for permanent peace. The proposal was rejected with the infamous Khartoum pronouncement:no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it. The rejection of Israeli efforts to seek peace left Israel with little choice but to take the measures necessary to ensure its internal security. In order to prevent further terrorist intifadas, and to protect itself from jihadists, suicide bombers, Molotov cocktails, guns, knives and rocks, Israel has implemented security measures that have sometimes made life harder for West Bank Palestinians. But the fact that Israel employs measures to suppress terrorism and violence has nothing to do with apartheid, racial prejudiceor any effort to extinguish or oppress a minority population. The PLO Charter (1964) and the Hamas Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (1988) on the other hand call for the annihilation of the Jewish state (and all Jews in it). In1993,Israel hoped to end its involvementin the West Bank, and entered into the Oslo Accords. Oslo created the Palestinian Authority, and led to the WestBank beingdivided into three areas. Area A, with more than97% of the Arab population is semi-autonomous, and governed by the Palestinian Authority; Area B is jointly administered; and Area C is under Israeli control. After the failure of the Camp David peace talks in 2000 and the subsequent outbreak of an intifada, Israel implemented security measures including checkpoints and barriers that restricted access to Israel from the West Bank. As a result, suicide bombings and violence were severely curtailed. And still,life for Arabs in the West Bank is safer and more prosperous thanin most neighboring Muslim countries. If you want to find apartheid, however, just travel to the Palestinian territories.The Palestinian Authoritys quest to create a Judenrein state in the West Bank can be properly branded as apartheid. No Jews allowed is the sign blocking Israeli Jews from entering Area A, and even parts of Jerusalem. But when it comes to Arabs in Israel, there is no apartheid.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Under the 'fair use' rule of copyright law, an author may make limited use of another author's work without asking permission. Fair use is based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism. The fair use privilege is perhaps the most significant limitation on a copyright owner's exclusive rights.

Fair use as described at 17 U.S.C. Section 107:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phono-records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for or nonprofit educational purposes,

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work,

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."